Development of a portable system for swallowing evaluation

在吞咽的口部阶段，舌头起着主要作用，并且适当的舌头表现对于形成食团并将其转移到咽部是必要的。对于本研究，我们开发了一个系统，用于安全和方便的客观估计舌头的运动和协调与喉抬高吞咽。该设备记录舌压力的两个应变计压力传感器对齐相距20毫米的黄铜带放置沿着腭中线。喉振动记录与压电加速度传感器。测量前后换能器的压力起始与喉部振动的第一个尖峰之间的时间差以及每个换能器的舌压。前换能器的压力起始先于后压力190 ± 101 ms（T1）。喉振动发生在前压开始后437 ± 162 ms。对于26名自愿者谁给了他们的知情同意，吞咽也进行了检查与视频荧光。T1与视频荧光造影评估的口腔过渡时间之间存在相关性（rs = 0.494，P = 0.0134）。总之，即使数据有限，该装置也成功地且容易地显示了吞咽功能的某些方面，并提供了新的舌压参数。

At the oral stage of swallowing, the tongue plays a major role and proper tongue performance is necessary to form the bolus and transfer it to the pharynx. For the present study we developed a system for safe and handy objective estimation of tongue motion and coordination with laryngeal elevation at swallowing.The device records tongue pressure by means of two strain gauge pressure transducers aligned 20 mm apart on a brass strap placed along the palatal midline. Laryngeal vibration is recorded with piezo-electric acceleration transducers. Time differences between pressure onset at the anterior and posterior transducers and the first spike from laryngeal vibration are measured together with tongue pressure at each transducer.Thirty healthy subjects were asked to swallow 10 ml of water. Pressure onset at the anterior transducer preceded posterior pressure by 190 ± 101 ms (T1). Laryngeal vibration occurred 437 ± 162 ms after the onset of anterior pressure. For 26 volunteers who gave their informed consent, swallowing was also examined with videofluorography. There was a correlation between T1 and oral transition time evaluated with videofluorography (r_s = 0.494, P = 0.0134).In conclusion, even the data is limited, the device successfully and easily revealed certain aspects of swallowing function with new parameters for tongue pressure.